The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-14
SOME GREAT SMOKERS.
The Popularity of the Weed That
SootheS.
N.on. tie London Standard.


bacco, there can be no doubt that as habit
there are few which can be compared to it
for popularity in our own and other coun-
tries. Indeed, it has been truly remarked
that it embraces the circumference of
the globe, it comprehends every class
of people, from the most savage to the
most refined, and includes every eli
mate, from Siberia to the equator,
and from the equator to the ex-
IRENE South. Thus, referring back to by
gone years, Spencer calls it ''divine to-
bacco," but whether he indulged in the use
OF it is by no means certain, although it
seems probable that he spoke in this comph-
mentary manner out of respect and regard
for his friend, Sir Walter Raleigh, who has
been regarded as having introduced the
fashion into England Hence Malcolm has
preserved tradition that he used to sit at
his door with Sir Hugh Middleton, practice
probably promoted, he adds, through the
public manner in which it was exhibited and
the aromatic flavor inhaled by the passen-
gers" AT the commencement of the seven
teenth century smoking was in high popu-
larity and received larger share of liter
airy notice than ever after fell to it's share.
Like Milton, George Withers is commonly
said to have INDUCED largely in the solace
of his pipe, and many of his evenings in
Newgate, during his long imprisonment,
when he was weary of numbering his steps
or counting the panes of glass, were re-
heved with meditations over pipe, which
also afforded him an opportunity of moral
zlng, as thus:
And when the smoke ascends on high,
Think on the worldly vanity
OF worldly stuff tbs gone with puff,
Thus think, and drink tobacco.
Charles Lamb, according to his own con-
feSsions, was "a fierce smoker of tobacco"
but as he advanced in years he was COM
PEELED to relax his intimacy with the favor
lite weed, and describes himself as resembling
"a volcano burnt out, emitting now and
then only a casual puff" Eventually he
took his formal leave in Farewell Ode to
Tobacco" and, in sending copy of the
poem to Wordsworth he writes: II have
had it in my head to do it these two years;
but tobacco stood in its own light when it
gave me headaches that prevented my sing
ing its praises" In the course of the poem,
which is one of the, highest tributes ever
paid to tobacco, he says:
For must-nor let it grieve thee,
Frendliest of plants that must leave thee.
For thy sake, tobacco, l
Would do anything but die;
And but seek to extend my days
Long enough to sing thy praise.
Addison had a pipe in his mouth at all
hours, and Hobbies, after his early dinner,
smoked pipes innumerable, and yet he
attained the age of 90. The first Episcopal
smoker in England was DIR. Richard
Fletcher, successfully Bishop of Worcester,
Bristol and London, and was the priest
specially chosen to attend on Mary Queen
of Scots at Fotheringay on the day of her
execution, Feb. s. 1887. According to one
account, his death has been attributed to
''his immoderate taking of tobacco" Arch
bishop Whateley was another great smoker,
and his pipe, when his little volcano was
extinct, served him as a book-marker
In summer time he might be seen sitting
on a chair in st. Stephens Green while
he was smoking tobacco. Archbishop Laud
was accused by the Puritans of being too
fond of smoking; and Robert Hall, while
at Cambridge, acquired the habit of smoking
from being in PARIS company. Being
asked on one occasion why he had com
menced, he replied: 81 am qualifying my
self for the society of Doctor of Divinity,
and this holding up his pipe is the test of
my admission: DR.. Parr, it should be
noted, was an inveterate smoker, and when
some one said to him: 'Do you smoke, Dr.
Parr?" he answered: "All great men do,
sir" Sometimes he would smoke as many
as twenty pipes in an evening, and DR..
Richardson, in, his "Recollections of the
Last Century," relates how, at the dinner
given at Trinity College, Cam
bridge, to the Duke of Gloucester,
as Chancellor of the University, DIR.
Parr, upon the removal of the cloth,
INDUCED in his eternal pipe, GLOWING a
cloud into the faces of his neighbors, much
to their annoyance, and causing royalty to
sneeze." The noted founder of the 'Atomic
Theory" DR.. Dalton, greatly enjoyed his
pipe after his days occupation in the class
room or the labratory, ''or when taking his
well-earned weeks half holiday with the
bowling club at the country tavern, where
every Wednesday ne regularly attended"
his colloquial faculty being at its very best
when over a pipe of tobacco. DR.. Aldrich,
the noted Dean of Christ church, Oxford,
was liberal patron of the weed; and Por-
son smoked many church warden. On
one occasion it, is related that he ''dis-
patched a bottle of alcohol,
besides. smoking any number OF
cigars.n Sir Isaac Newton INDUCED
freely in this recreation, and Ben Jonson
was an equally ardent admirer of It, Byron,
again, was am enthusiastic admirer of the
weed and wrote in its praise. Thomas
Howell was great smoker, and in his 'Fa-
milar Letters" gives various illusions to
his fondness for tobacco. Thus, aclcnowl-
edging on one occasion a present of tobacco,
he writes: 81 received that choice parcel of
tobacco your servant brought me for
which / send you as many returns of graft
tude as there were grains therein, which
were many, but too few to express my ac-
acknowledgement Even the very ashes he
praises, adding: "'Tis well known
that the medicinal virtues of the
ashes are very many, but they are so com
mon that l win spare the inserting of them
here Thomas Carlyle was a steady smoker,
as also is the present poet laureate Camp
bell and Moore both delighted in their pipe,
and John ellison Lockhart was seldom seen
without cigar Jerold and Fielding iber-
ally pulled at their leisure and the late j.
NJ. Kemble. author of THE Seasons in Eng
land" was an inveterato lover of the weed
According to an old Johnian, it was no
small pleasure "to get Paley, on cold
winters night, TO put up his legs, stir the
fire and fill long Dutch pipe. He formally
declined any punch, but nevertheless drank
it up as fast MS we replonished his glass. He
would smoke any quantity Of tobacco and
drink any given quantity of punch" Van
Helmont, travelling in desert places, argues
that tobacco is beneficial and states that it
protects him for long periods against hunger
or fatigue, and in addition he adds that lie
could make prolonged journeys OF foot with
no other substance.
Leaving, however, our own country, it
may be remembered that Gen. Grant was
much devoted to good cigar and, indeed,
his love for this recreation has long become
proverbial. Similarly, Count Bismarck is
no less fond Of this mode of solqSe, and on
one occasion, when about TO ligN his cigar,
A. Il.